In court, it was revealed that Trott served time in Arkansas after convictions in 1991 for burglary, larceny and forgery. Trott told the judge he served two and a half years in jail and was placed on probation.

Several members of Chapter 96 were in court.

“Very much so a sense of betrayal. As a veterans group, we begin friends, we become comrades,” said Dan Stack.

“A little bit angry, yes,” said James St. Amand. “Being a disabled veteran myself, I feel as though we were done wrong. He stole funding that could have gone to the benefit of others and it angers me.”

However, Trott’s attorney said this matter was already considered in civil court and the case was dismissed.

“Those allegations which comprise the majority of the money they are claiming about are just absurd, just done for headline purposes,” attorney Williams Gens said.

Gens said some of the money went to purchase vehicles.

“The DAV has those vans. They exist. They were titled in the (organization’s ) name, not in Richard Trott’s name. Ultimately, what this was was a power struggle. He wasn’t running things the way they wanted him to so they charged him civilly. Now they charged him criminally,” Gens said.